Race Evaluation
USMA West Point A-Meet 2010: Blue Middle Distance
bshields
| 1. | Knew from the outset that this would be a disaster; probably should have just done a map hike. After dropping sleep all week to prepare for a presentation in my solids class (Anderson model for magnetic impurities, for anyone interested), I rushed home, did some laundry, and headed out to Riverside to sleep over at Jeff Schapiro's house before heading out to West Point at 6am Saturday morning. T ride sucked, naturally, but even more so than usual due to some 30min of delays on the red line. But around 11 or so (?) I finally fell asleep. Woke up at 5:30, ate some breakfast, headed out to West Point, sleeping most of the way in the car. Checked in at registration, suited up, headed over to the start. so-so; poor microroute/execution, but not totally hopeless. | ||||||
| 2. | somehow overshoot, arriving at the next cliff down the hill; now that I look at it, can't really figure out what happened; will check with the gps. | ||||||
| 3. | first disaster. Clearly not in contact, just roughly blundering along. The ensuing parallel error (confused by some wet marshy-seeming ground) costs me 1min, by which point the Duke has caught and passed me. | ||||||
| 4. | expect a more-well-defined rough-open with scattered trees area and again overshoot, again going to the next cliff down the hill. Now that I check the legend, this symbol is actually not defined, so evidently my expectations were excessive. | ||||||
| 5. | fine. Finally getting into the map, or so I thought... | ||||||
| 6. | second disaster. start to head up the marsh, then decide it couldn't possibly be faster to go all the way around, so go up the hill. Keep drifting off the line and trying to correct. Can't discern the vegetation. Crest the ridge and head down the cliffs. People running around confused all over the place. Reproduce their behavior, but with more emphasis on confused. Eventually take a hint from the Duke and head off to the right, finally stumbling on the control. Somehow, I was completely off the compass on this one. | ||||||
| 7. | fine, but slow; feeling stupid. | ||||||
| 8. | hird disaster. go around to the left, fearing the climb (always a bad sign). Assume some stream-like features are a marsh, head up on the compass, come to a control on a cliff. Only my control is on a boulder. Head down along the ridge, find control. | ||||||
| 9. | feel particularly stupid by this point. My pre-run fears are being self-fulfilled; no surprise there. Feel shot physically, trudge along, find control. | ||||||
| 10. | off way to the left. Basically walking at this point. | ||||||
| 11. | whatever. | ||||||
| 12. | by now I am allowing my frustration to direct itself toward the course setter. He dutifully responds by sending us through a hillside of repugnant vegetation. Ian passes me, calling out with an air of cheerful gravitas as he bounces along. I feebly attempt to give chase. He hardly notices. | ||||||
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| F. |
Total Time Lost - 00:00:00